In Dreams
by Earendil Eldar
Summary: A former enemy is back inside Torchwood, and has learned a thing or two about how to get to Jack. After targeting Ianto with a bomb that causes the victim to be unable to wake up, Ianto suffers implanted dreams that are as real as any nightmare he's lived through yet.
1. Chapter 1

"Ianto, sleep," Jack mumbled. It was rare that Jack was as exhausted as he was. And Ianto didn't need to be getting up at the ungodly hours he usually did either. It took a moment for Jack to realize Ianto was dreaming. "Come on, Yan. Wake up, just a dream."

Ianto whimpered in his sleep before letting out a pained cry.

"Come on, Ianto, it's a dream. You're fine. Wake up, handsome," Jack said, shaking Ianto gently.

Ianto just cried out again.

"Ok, Yan. Seriously? You gotta wake up for me 'cause that's really starting to bother me." Jack had heard far too many men cry out in pain like that in his life, and even knowing that it was just a dream, that Ianto was safe and sound beside him, didn't help.

Ianto only seemed to shrink into himself and still didn't wake up.

"Ianto!" Jack shouted.

Nothing.

"Wake up," Jack demanded, shaking his lover roughly, all to no avail. "Damn it," he growled, dragging a hand through his hair. Jack sat up and fumbled around his nightstand for his wrist strap. He fastened it and flipped up the flap, pressing a few buttons and running a scan over Ianto.

The scan showed Ianto's vitals were elevated much more than they should have been for a regular nightmare. For a moment, Jack had no idea what was going on, and it terrified him. Then he thought of the large, plain, bullet-shaped object sitting on his desk, waiting to be identified, and Jack's blood ran cold. That was a somnabomb, he'd stake anything on it. And that meant Ianto was its victim.

* * *

><p>Jack emerged from his bunker, still half undressed, to get a better look at the shell on his desk and try to figure out how to counter its effects.<p>

"Hello, Jack."

Jack spun around faster than a blink. "Who the hell are you?"

"Oh, how quickly we forget. Of course, you had some help with that."

"How did you get in here?" Jack growled.

"Jack, Jack, Jack. Getting in here was nothing, especially a second time. It was getting out of that nothingness you sent me to. Any of this coming back to you yet, Jack? What about you and your father and brother, Jack?"

Jack glared.

"Oh, yeah. You remember. See, Jack, that's the thing about your pills. They're not perfect, memories come back sometimes. Especially when someone has had training and resistance to them. Someone like our Ianto… or you. Speaking of Ianto, how is he?"

"What did you do to him?" Jack hissed. "I won't just make you disappear this time, I _will_ kill you!"

"You know, Jack, the last time I made the mistake of trying to bribe you with your past. I could see how much you wanted that… oh, you wanted those memories back _bad_. But I missed the really obvious… kind of tends to be the problem when you live on memory. Those memories were almost 200 years ago. You've started to move on. There's something here right now that you'd go a lot further for, isn't there, Jack? And he _is_ pretty when he's in pain… even when it's all in his head."


	2. Chapter 2

Ianto couldn't remember when he'd last been so tired. He had a feeling Jack wouldn't mind just getting some shut-eye, Jack looked just as tired as he was. Ianto snuggled in close to Jack (there wasn't any _other_ way to sleep in Jack's bunker) and was out cold in moments.

The dreams started almost immediately. Ianto was curled up with Jack, as close as they were in bed, except it was someplace cosy and homely, with a warm fire crackling. It was nice, a dream he'd had a few times before. He knew there was no chance of it ever coming true, not in a Torchwood world, but that was alright. No matter the circumstances, he and Jack had one another and that was all that really mattered.

Then the dream shifted and somehow Ianto found himself no longer snuggled close to Jack but a young boy at home. He immediately felt uncomfortable and didn't want to be there. Something was wrong, but it was a feeling he knew too well in that house. It seemed to him that his father was always angry about something and usually speaking in short, gruff tones when he wasn't outright shouting.

Of course, it was never Rhiannon he was shouting at, and deep down Ianto knew it was because Rhiannon wasn't the reason their mother died. That was Ianto's fault. He couldn't say when he first learned that fact, it was sort of just a part of who he was, like growing up saying half of everything in Welsh.

Ianto's father was angry over something Ianto hadn't done properly, though he didn't know what. He rarely did know what and even when he did it was a mystery to him how he'd been wrong. He only ever did things as best an eight-year-old could with no help or instruction.

He was terrified when his father began shouting at him, but less afraid when his father grabbed his arm. He could take the pain. He just wished that _once_ someone would tell him he'd done something right.

* * *

><p>"Since you think you know everything," Jack said, crossing his arms stubbornly, "you'll be aware that I have seen the effects of sonmabombs before. They wear off eventually. What are you planning to do once he wakes up?"<p>

"I was going to ask you the same question, Jack. I've wondered how much pain and stress in dreams it takes to change a person as much as it would in waking life. Of course, I'm fairly used to implanting memories, but dreams… now that's something else. And Ianto, oh, he practically does all the work. Do you know, Jack, how little suggestion it took for me to give him that break-down? He just took it and his fractured mind ran with it. There's so much pain and self-doubt there already, I hardly have to manufacture any. Of course, he hasn't had as much time to accumulate as much as you…."

"Few have," Jack said grimly. It wasn't exactly easy keeping up the sort of mind-block necessary to resist Adam, but Jack knew that was objective number one. He had to keep his thoughts cloaked if he was going to out-think this monster. Jack could already see a few flaws that he might be able to exploit – such as Adam's obsession with painful memories. Jack had enough of those to choke anyone, if he could figure out a way to make Adam effectively overdose on them.

Jack also knew he needed to keep his rage in check. No matter how badly he wanted to strangle Adam for those comments about Ianto, he needed to keep him talking. It was the only way to learn enough to be able to get rid of him for good.


	3. Chapter 3

University. Most days, Ianto could hardly believe it. For a long time he'd assumed he'd end up working in a shop all his life. Maybe becoming an office teaboy if he really set his sights high. There weren't a lot of options in the council estate world he knew. Even fewer for someone like him.

But that was behind him. He saw an opportunity and he knew that if he stopped to think for even a moment, he'd never make it out. So he'd run, essentially. He knew his sister took it personally, but that was exactly the sort of thing Ianto couldn't stop to consider.

And here he was… going to university in London! It was completely magic. And he didn't have to hide himself anymore. He could be the man he always felt he was without getting sneered at by the other council kids. Here, it wasn't a bad thing to be quiet and smart and a bit of an anorak about things like old films and coffee and precision timepieces. And if sometimes his pulse quickened when he looked at a handsome guy… this was _London_.

And that meant… squarely nothing.

Jeremy. The bloke in his first year physics class. Ianto wasn't entirely sure what drew his attention so much, other than that he was tall and confident. He was alright to look at, but with more rugged features than Ianto usually went for. Still, he was whip-smart and that was turn-on number one in Ianto's book, male or female.

It was last class of the term and some of the students had organized a celebratory piss-up. Ianto ordinarily would have politely declined the invitation, but Jeremy was going and Ianto thought it was a great chance to give it a go. That night at the pub, Ianto offered to buy Jeremy a beer and things were fine. They chatted casually for a bit, then Jeremy excused himself to the loo. Just before he ducked in, he glanced back at Ianto, making eye contact and grinning. His meaning was beyond clear and after a moment (for decency's sake, he figured), Ianto followed.

There was something slightly disgusting about snogging in a loo, but it was also edgy and exciting, Ianto thought as Jeremy felt him up with a hunger that amazed Ianto. "Do you have your own room?" Jeremy asked urgently.

"Yeah," Ianto breathed. "Come on." It was almost embarrassing how quickly they left the pub and arrived at Ianto's shared flat. Ianto didn't care, especially once they had one another's clothes dispensed with. Jeremy was an absolute animal unleashed – Ianto loved it and gave every bit as good as he got.

Afterward, Ianto was ready to sleep for the next ten hours straight. Jeremy, sitting at the edge of Ianto's little bed, occasionally glancing back at the Welshman, seemed torn between going home and joining Ianto for some kip.

"You can stay if you want," Ianto said sleepily.

Jeremy looked back at him and stood up.

Ianto reached out to stroke Jeremy's muscular thigh appreciatively. The next thing Ianto knew, Jeremy had sprung back on top of him, but this time was pummeling Ianto with his fists. At first, Ianto was too stunned to cry out or defend himself. Then old instincts took over and Ianto just made himself as small as he could, curling up and going still and quiet, waiting for it to be over.

* * *

><p>"So what do you think, Jack? How much can he take? You know he's got plenty of memories that would be difficult to relive, to say the least…."<p>

"He's stronger than you think," Jack snarled.

"Or weaker than you want to believe," Adam grinned. "There are things locked in his mind, Jack. Things I'm sure he's never told you. I really didn't have to go very far to make him believe he was a killer. And there are a few weak spots in his mental defenses. There are some fears that, if I let them out, make them real enough to him… might just break him for good."

At that moment, Jack hated Adam more than he'd hated anything he'd ever encountered. Adam was as adept in mental torture as Jack had once been in physical torture. He hated the way Adam knew exactly where to apply pressure to make Jack feel sick.


	4. Chapter 4

Something in the skies. It was like fireworks… or lightning, spreading out all over, multiplying. It was dangerous, terrifying. No way to fight it. Ianto knew all of that instinctively. But there was something worse coming. Ianto didn't know how he knew, but he felt it.

The dream turned and Ianto found himself standing in his family council house again. He was stood at the top of the stairs and felt as if he was defending his family – the woman there seemed to be the mother he never knew, and the younger girl had to be his sister – from his father. The father who Ianto _knew_ was dead.

All Ianto could do was chuck anything he could get his hands on down the stairs, boxes, rubbish baskets, a small table, everything he could lift. Nothing was working until he found a silver chest and threw it full-force down the stairs. Somehow that stopped the "zombie" or ghost or whatever it was and it vanished.

Ianto turned back to check on his sister who was hiding in the loo.

"She's alright, it's just a bit of a cut," said the older woman.

When Ianto looked, though, he found a deep slit across his sister's neck. No one else seemed bothered, but Ianto let out a terrified scream and turned away.

* * *

><p>It took every ounce of willpower Jack had not to look toward his bunker when he heard Ianto cry out in his sleep again.<p>

"Hmm… sounds like a bad one, doesn't it, Jack? Of course, the worst ones aren't the ones that cause screams…. You know the ones, Jack. The ones that hurt so much, that tear away so much of your soul that you can't even scream. All you can do is curl up and whimper and beg for it stop."

"What is it you think you're gonna get from this?" Jack asked defiantly.

"By the time we're done here, Jack? Whatever I want."

Once again, Jack fought with himself not to lose control. He felt like beating "Adam" to a bloody pulp but he had a feeling that wouldn't fix this. And it was tough work keeping up a mental barrier, he could feel Adam pounding at his psychic block – and he was a lot stronger than Mary's pendant had been. Jack hadn't been tested quite like that since his days as a Time Agent Cadet.

Time Agent… maybe that was it, Jack thought.


End file.
